Burke 21st in Ruhpolding mass start with clean prone shooting

RUHPOLDING, Germany (January 14, 2018) –Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, N.Y.) was perfect from prone in finishing 21st in Sunday’s men’s 15-kilometer mass start on the final day of the BMW IBU World Cup 5 in Ruhpolding. Burke cleaned his first 10 targets in the prone position, but had three penalties in standing, crossing the line with a time of 38 minutes, 41.4 seconds.

After his clean shooting in prone, Burke was in 11th place at the midway point of the race, but his standing penalties pushed him back to 21st at the finish. He has enjoyed several strong races over the past week, including finishing fourth and 14th in two races in Oberhof.

“Today was another solid race for me,” said Burke. “Of course, the result was not quite what I was hoping for, but I feel like a lot of things are heading in the right direction. I feel like I have just a few small details to clean up and then another top result is definitely possible. Now I am looking forward to week of racing in Italy on a course that really suits my strengths.”

Ruhpolding continued to produce fine weather conditions as it has all week. The men’s mass start was held on a windless day with few clouds. That led to very good shooting from the field of 30 throughout the competition.

Johannes Thingnes Boe of Norway took advantage of Martin Fourcade’s two penalties in the first standing to grab a big lead that lead to a one-penalty victory. Fourcade, after falling to 15th position with his only two penalties of the day, staged a thrilling comeback in the last loop to finish second, 4.5 seconds back. Third place went to Antonin Guigonnat of France, shooting clean, but 8.4 seconds back.

The last IBU World Cup event before the Olympic Games takes place next weekend in Antholz-Anterselva, Italy. Sprints, pursuits and mass starts are on the docket during the Jan. 18-21 event.